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Effect of deposition potential on the microstructure and corrosion resistance of Ni–Cu alloys in ChCl-EG ionic liquids

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Abstract

Using a constant potential electrodeposition technique, bright Ni-Cu alloy plating coating was made directly on a purple copper substrate from choline chloride-ethylene glycol deep eutectic solvents (1:2 mol ChCl-EG Deep Eutectic Solvents, ChCl-EG DESs). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) were used to examine the electrochemical behavior and nucleation/growth mechanism of Ni/Cu ions in ChCl-EG DESs. Kinetic potential polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to examine the corrosion resistance of Ni-Cu alloy coatings before and after passivation. At 70 °C, the reduction peaks coincide, indicating that increasing temperature can bring the Ni/Cu ion's reduction potentials closer together. The Ni-Cu plating coating follows a three-dimensional continuous nucleation/growth mechanism, which leads to a "velvety" microstructure. The deposition potential had a significant effect on the microscopic morphology, composition, and corrosion resistance of Ni–Cu alloy plating coating, and a dense velvety structured plating coating with a thickness ~ 16.95 μm can be obtained at −0.85 V (vs. Ag) and exhibites a best corrosion resistance (corrosion current density icorr = 12.623 μA/cm2, charge response resistance Rt = 4.486 KΩ/cm2). The passivation film consists of CuO, Cu2O and Ni(OH)2. The passivation can further improve the corrosion resistance of the plating layer (icorr = 2.107μA/cm2, Rt = 16.91KΩ/cm2).

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Funding

This work was supported by the project of Liaoning Province Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science Joint Research (Project 2019JH3/30100021) and Shenyang Ligong University Innovation Team Fund Support.

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  1. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shenyang Ligong University, Shenyang, 110159, People’s Republic of China

    Chongbo Zhan, Runjia Zhang, Xu Fu, Haijing Sun, Baojie Wang & Jie Sun

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  1. Chongbo Zhan
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  2. Runjia Zhang
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  3. Xu Fu
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Contributions

Chongbo Zhan: Completed the main experiment; Data analysis and related chart making; Writing draft. Runjia Zhang: Completed some experiments. Xu Fu: Completed some experiments. Haijing Sun: Paper review and suggestion for revision. Baojie Wang: Paper review and suggestion for revision. Jie Sun: Supervision, Writing-review & editing, Funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Jie Sun.

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Zhan, C., Zhang, R., Fu, X. et al. Effect of deposition potential on the microstructure and corrosion resistance of Ni–Cu alloys in ChCl-EG ionic liquids. J Appl Electrochem 53, 2137–2151 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-023-01913-z

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